SAN DIEGO THEATRE SCENE

"CURTAIN CALLS" #225

By Pat Launer

www.sdtheatrescene.com

1/11/08

 

The theater season is heating up

With more than could fill any theater cup.

 

 

MY VOTE HAS ALREADY BEEN CAST

No, not that vote. Not yet, anyway.

 

In 2007, I was thrilled to use my ballot-power to play a tiny role in two of the county’s biggest theatrical honors of the year: I wrote a letter in support of Craig Noel for the National Medal of Arts. And, as a member of the American Theater Critics Circle, I rated Jack O’Brien, from among the 70 nominees, at the top of the list for the Theater Hall of Fame. This is a matter of personal as well as civic pride.

 

Most San Diegans don’t know just how high our profile is on the national theater map. They don’t know that we have something like 100 theater companies in town; that in 2004, 2 million theater tickets were sold in our county. That in 2006, the arts in San Diego brought in 1.8 million visitors (“cultural tourists”) who spent $450 million here. In 2006, more than 3.9 million tickets were sold for arts offerings in town!

They might not know that we are the nation’s Number One exporter of shows to Broadway, and the fifth largest theater market in the country (behind New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles).

 

So it doesn’t just come out of nowhere that we spawn two such prominent citizens in the national theater community.

 

Craig Noel, the founding director of the Old Globe, is already a National Treasure in the eyes of San Diegans. He’s the father of San Diego theater, not only at the Globe, but through his broad influence in the start of Junior Theatre (now, in its 60th year, the oldest continuing children’s theater program in the country) and the bilingual/bicultural Teatro Meta program (under Craig’s aegis, the Globe was the first regional theater to embrace multiculturalism). Bill Virchis, who was recently toasted and roasted at his retirement from the Sweetwater School District (after decades at Southwestern College), once called Craig “the Johnny Appleseed of theater.”

 

Craig was always ahead of his time, bringing new theatrical names and faces to San Diego, introducing local audiences to the likes of Beckett and Giraudoux, Ionesco, Anouilh and Ayckbourn. He established the Globe’s Play Discovery Program, to introduce new voices and new scripts to San Diego. In 1983, he launched the Globe’s Master of Fine Arts/Professional Actor Training Program, in conjunction with the University of San Diego. Many local theatermakers credit him with setting the tone for mutual collaboration among theater companies in town.

 

On November 15, in an East Room at the White House, he was presented with the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence. Recipients are selected on the basis of their contributions to the creation, growth and support of the arts in the U.S. Craig’s influence extends well beyond San Diego’s borders. He has enriched the larger community through his support and encouragement of up-and-coming actors, playwrights and other theater artists. He’s nurtured generations of theatergoers and arts supporters. “Give me a child till he’s seven,” I’ve often quoted him as saying, “and I’ll give you a theatergoer for life.” He is considered one of the “deans” of the regional theater movement, and he was a leader in the revival of interest in Shakespeare in America, when he launched the San Diego National Shakespeare Festival in 1949.

 

At age 92, he has more than proven his long-term commitment to theater. I still see him attending productions at theaters large and small, supporting those he knows, checking out the new and local talent. He is a wonder, a gift to our county and to our country. And I’m so glad he’s gotten the prestigious national recognition he so richly deserves.

 

Among the many legacies he gave to San Diego was his successor, Jack O’Brien. And as one of the 350 critics, journalists, Hall of Famers and industry insiders who got to vote, I was thrilled that Jack was chosen for the 2008 Theater Hall of Fame, the 37th year of the honor. The nominating criteria include at least five major theater credits and 25 years working in the professional theater.

 

Jack has had a long and distinguished career in the theater, which has been heating up in recent years. He came to the Old Globe in 1981, and directed more than 60 productions for the theater over 25 years, before officially moving to the East coast, and in 2007, being named artistic director emeritus7.

 

He’s won three Tony Awards --  for Hairspray, The Coast of Utopia and Henry IV. He’s been nominated for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Invention of Love, The Full Monty, Two Shakespearean Actors and Porgy and Bess (his first nomination, 1977). That list just about says it all. Jack is equally comfortable, and equally skilled, with musicals, drams and Shakespeare. He brings so much energy, light and verve to everything he does. I’ve never heard anyone who’s worked with him utter anything but lavish praise about his process and his expansive, ebullient personality.

 

He’s currently at work on another world premiere musical, an adaptation of the Steven Spielberg movie, “Catch Me If You Can,” based on the true story of a compulsive young con man and the federal agent who relentlessly pursues him. For this project, Jack is re-uniting with his Hairspray collaborators: composer Marc Shaiman, lyricist Scott Wittman and choreographer Jerry Mitchell. The book is by Terrence McNally, book-writer for The Full Monty, which premiered at the Globe in 2000. Early workshops featured Nathan Lane and Tom Wopat. There will be more workshops this winter; a four-city casting call is set for this month, and the show is due to open some time this year.

 

Jack’s prodigious 2007 schedule included the mammoth Tom Stoppard trilogy, The Coast of Utopia, his opera début at the Met (Puccini’s Il Trittico) and mounting the London production of Hairspray. And oh yes, the 10th anniversary of The Grinch here at home and the second blockbuster year of the kid-friendly musical on Broadway. He’s busier than ever, as happy as ever, and as charming,d gracious and creative as ever. More power (and more work!) to him! At 68, he’s in his heyday! The Hall of Fame induction will be held on January 28 at the Gershwin Theater in New York. Bravo, Jack! We’re with you all the way!

NEWS AND VIEWS ….

 … It’s almost here… and you can still be there… if you hurry. The dinner seats have been sold out for weeks, but there are still a few Gallery seats available (just $25 for excellent views plus Dessert Reception). It promises to be the hottest party in town! The 11th Annual Patté Awards for Theater Excellence. Monday, January 14 in the David & Dorothea Garfield Theatre at the Lawrence Family JCC in La Jolla. If you can’t be there, be sure to watch the broadcast on Channel 4 San Diego (Cox and Time Warner) on Saturday, February 2 at 7pm. For tix, call the JCC box office asap: 858-362-1348.

 

…Lots of media coverage before and after the Pattés: I’ll be appearing on KNSD 7/39 (“Streetside San Diego”) on Friday morning, Jan. 11 (10-11am). On Arts Rocks internet radio on Wed. Jan. 16, 7-8pm, and on KSDS radio, Jazz88.3 with Leo Cates on Sunday Jan. 20, 6pm. And don’t forget to watch the TV broadcast of the event: Saturday, February 1 at 7pm on Channel 4 San Diego.

 

…Just two more weekends for the brief run of the workshop production of The Blessing of a Broken Heart, adapted from Sherri Mandell’s award-winning spiritual memoir by the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s associate artistic director Todd Salovey. It’s his first theater creation, and he’s still tweaking it daily. The story concerns an American Jewish 13 year-old who’s murdered by terrorists in Israel’s West Bank, and how his mother copes with the aftermath of his death. At the Lyceum, through January 20. for info on the many activities associated with the production, go to sandiegorep.com.

 

… Off-the-wall, On-the-wall…. In association with the 6th @ Penn production of the (elusive) Jane Martin’s Anton in Show Business, which won the American Theatre Critics’ 2001 Steinberg New Play Award, two 20-foot long murals have been created to span the walls of the theater lobby. In keeping with the tone of the wry backstage comedy, artist Valentine Viannay (valentine@paintergenie.com) has crafted quirky depictions of New York and Hollywood. The show’s hot cast features DeAnna Driscoll, Robin Christ and Aimee Janelle Nelson, with seven more actors covering a bevy of character roles. January 15-March 2. www.sixthatpenn.com

 

… and speaking of scathing backstage stories… check out Paul Rudnick’s piece in the Dec. 31 issue of The New Yorker, about the behind-the-scenes horrors of his Broadway production of I Hate Hamlet, and the ill-fated night when, during anonstage duel, his star intentionally stabbed a fellow actor (who left the stage and refused to return). A great – and harrowing – story.

 

…GOTTA DANCE? Try some of the new classes from Jean Isaacs San Diego Theater, including Modern, Jazz and Yoga for Dancers. www.sandiegodancetheater.org

 

 

READINGS and MORE READINGS…

 

… ion theatre is about to launch “ion’s intimate ibsen,” a year-long series of readings by Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. The 12-play cycle includes the Big Four masterworks: A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler, The Wild Duck and The Master Builder. The reading of the first play in the interconnected cycle, Pillars of Society, will be directed by Claudio Raygoza and will feature Glenn Paris and the Resident Artists of ion. January 27 at 1pm in ion’s new space, The Lab at the Academy of Performing Arts in Mission Valley. This comes close on the heels of ion’s next full production, the much acclaimed and controversial Martin McDonagh drama, The Pillowman (1/20-2/16). www.iontheatre.com

 

…Frozen, by Bryony Lavery, which won London's prestigious Barclay Award for Best New Play of 1998, concerns familial grief in the wake of a pedophile killing. The mother and the murderer meet and sparks, needless to say, fly. A special one-night reading, featuring the killert cast of Ron Choularton, Jo Anne Glover and Terri Park, will take place at 8pm on January 16 at North Coast Repertory Theatre.

 

… Jean Giroudoux’s 1950 comic fable, The Madwoman of Chaillot, with a knockout cast that includes Jill Drexler, Jim Chovick, Charlie Riendeau, Manny Fernandez, Amanda Sitton, Tom Andrew, Wendy Waddell, Sandy Campbell, Allan Salkin and Priscilla Allen, has a two-night run, January 25-26, courtesy of Scripps Ranch Theatre. On the campus of Alliant University (formerly USIU). www.scrippsranchtheatre.org.

 

… Cygnet Theatre Company and the San Diego Black Ensemble Theatre continue their series of staged readings of August Wilson’s influential ten-play cycle chronicling the African American experience in the 20th century. Jitney is on February 2 and 4, followed by Two Trains Running, King Hedley II and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The full production of Fences, directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg and starring Antonio “TJ” Johnson and Sylvia M’Lafi Thompson, runs January 17-February 24. www.cygnettheatre.com

 

'NOT TO BE MISSED!' (Pat’s Picks)

 

No HOT PICKS yet this year… the season is just starting to warm up (even if the weather isn’t…)

 

 

(For full text of all of Pat’s past reviews, going back to 1990, use the Search engine at www.patteproductions.com)

 

January is a cool month outside, but a hot one onstage. Twelve openings in the next two weekends! Get out your datebook, and get going!

 

Pat

 

© 2007 PATTÉ PRODUCTIONS, INC.

 

For more than 20 years, Pat Launer has been the only regular broadcast theater critic in San Diego. An Emmy Award-winner with a Ph.D. in Communication Arts & Sciences, Pat sees and reviews more than 200 local theater productions every year. For the past decade, she has hosted and produced The Patté Awards for Theatre Excellence, a gala community event that honors local theatermakers (“San Diegans making theater for San Diego”) and celebrates the broad diversity of San Diego theater.